Thursday, July 05, 2007

Today I learned something about this amazingly northern part of the Americas. It starts to get light around 3:15 am. 3:15! for crikey sakes. How do I know this? I stayed at Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic til the bitter end. At the Gorge Amphitheatre, 240 miles from my domicile. It didn't end until midnight. Didn't know I'm a willie fan? Well I'm not really, but the old guy might kick it any day and even at 73 he has a lovely voice. And his teenage looking son wasn't half bad either. But I was really there for Son Volt. And they were put in AFTER Amos Lee, Drive By Truckers, and Old 97s. Which is cool because last time I saw them play with Drive By Truckers, Son Volt opened. Unfortunately yesterday the crowd was all anxious for the old geezer (just one more band! I overheard some lardball bemoan), but it didn't stop me from hootin' and hollerin' and singing along.

At the end of "move it on over" about the hot dog replacing the cold dog, I decided that I like my music the way I like my men: complex.

I managed to cheat the night a little by sleeping at a rest stop that couldn't come soon enough; there is an additional rest stop southbound near Lynnwood but the highway folks couldn't be as nice to the northbound travelers and I had to go all the way past Marysville. But I want to know why it is my bladder is WAY more sensitive and alert to the slightest amount of fluid in there when a. I'm driving and b. trying to sleep in my car? And it's not like a van with easy horizontal access; it's duck under the flap, find somewhere semi comfortable for my feet that are too long for that back section, avoid whatever light source is peeking in through the cracks. And try to fall asleep before one of the individual body parts does.

The nice thing about WA rest stops is they have snacks for you, just waiting! And coffee! All by donation. I had a lovely slice of poppyseed cake with underwhelming coffee, but hey it was THERE and it was FREE. God bless America.